Kawasaki Racing Team - China

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
11 MAY 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAKANO AND DE PUNIET SET TO SPRING SHANGHAI SURPRISE?

This weekend's Grand Prix of China in Shanghai marks the start of a frantically busy period for the Kawasaki Racing Team, as they prepare for a run of eight races in just eleven weeks.

The 5.45 km Shanghai circuit is the most modern motorsport facility in the world and, at some 1200 metres in length, features the longest straight on the MotoGP calendar. The riders hit speeds in excess of 320 km/h on the straight, before getting hard on the brakes for the 60 km/h, first gear hairpin at Turn 13.

This is a critical point in the lap, where late braking can easily secure an improvement in position, but can just as easily lead to an off-track excursion into the run-off area at the end of the straight. It's a unique challenge that is unrivalled at any other circuit.

Shanghai holds mixed memories for the Kawasaki Racing Team. Shinya Nakano was left frustrated after being forced to retire from last year's inaugural Chinese Grand Prix just two laps into the race, due to an electrical problem on his Ninja ZX-RR.

But while Nakano's retirement was disappointing, Olivier Jacque certainly gave the Kawasaki Racing Team something to remember. The 31-year-old Frenchman brought his Ninja ZX-RR home in second place in the rain lashed race, to give Kawasaki their best ever finish in the premier class of Grand Prix racing.

Jacque will not race for Kawasaki this weekend, but both Nakano and Randy de Puniet arrive in Shanghai hopeful of emulating the Frenchman's performance in Sunday's 22-lap Grand Prix of China.

Nakano has his sights set firmly on a top six finish this weekend, and is confident that the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR will give him a significant advantage through the high-speed turns where fast changes of direction are necessary.

De Puniet has already proved his speed in the wet this season, and is confident of a strong result should rain again affect the race, but the Frenchman is determined to improve upon his position in the last race in Istanbul regardless of the prevailing conditions on Sunday.

Shinya Nakano: #56
"This is something of a special circuit because of the long straight and the long, fast right-hand turn that leads onto it. The strange thing about the straight is that it feels really slow when you ride it, because it's so long and there are very few reference points. It's also hard to identify a braking marker at the end of the straight for the tight, first gear hairpin. This makes things difficult, because the entry to this corner is one of the best overtaking points on the track, but if you brake even fractionally too late then you can't turn in and you're forced to run on. It certainly makes things interesting. I enjoyed the circuit in the dry last year, but I still need to get a few more laps under my belt to find the best racing line. Last year I retired from this race with an electrical problem, but I think the high-speed corners with fast changes of direction will suit the Kawasaki, so this year I am definitely aiming for a top six finish."

Randy de Puniet: #17
"Shanghai is not one of my favourite circuits, as I think it is more suited to car racing than motorcycle racing. Having said that, there are a few interesting sections on the track, like the long first corner. Last year I raced here on the 250cc machine, and the circuit will look very different from the seat of a MotoGP bike I'm sure. But it normally doesn't take me long to learn a circuit, so I hope we can get up to speed quite quickly during practice. It will be interesting to see what the weather is like on Sunday, because I know we can secure a good result if it is a wet race. If it stays dry then I will be pushing as hard as I can to improve upon my result in the last race in Istanbul. I am looking forward to the weekend ahead."

[Pabs]

Past Winner's
2005 250cc Shanghai Circuit STONER, Casey AUS Aprilia
2005 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit ROSSI, Valentino ITA Yamaha

[mfzx6r]

Its on 1:30pm live on foxsports2 !

cant wait

[NovaCoder]

Its on 1:30pm live on foxsports2 !

cant wait

And 1:30 am on poorTV

Needless to say I won't be watching this one

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
12 MAY 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TOP TEN FOR DE PUNIET IN RAIN SOAKED SHANGHAI

Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet got another opportunity to display his wet weather prowess in Shanghai this afternoon, finishing the day tenth fastest as near constant rain meant that both of today's hour-long free practice sessions were run in damp conditions.

Making his first appearance at the Shanghai International circuit as a MotoGP rider, the 25-year-old Kawasaki ace quickly got to grips with learning the circuit in difficult conditions, to finish this morning's free practice seventh fastest.

Changes to the engine and chassis settings on de Puniet's Ninja ZX-RR for the afternoon free practice session didn't result in the improvements expected, but the Kawasaki pilot was quick to improve upon his lap times after switching back to a set-up he was more comfortable with.

De Puniet's Kawasaki teammate, Shinya Nakano, ended this afternoon's free practice session 14th fastest, after losing confidence in the front end of his Ninja ZX-RR once a dry line had started to appear around the 5.281 km Shanghai International circuit.

Although disappointed not to have placed higher on the timesheet, the 28-year-old Japanese star remains confident that changes to the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR overnight will allow a significant improvement in his lap times tomorrow, regardless of whether conditions are wet or dry.

Randy de Puniet: 10th - 2'11.425
"This afternoon we tried some changes to the chassis and engine set-up to see if we could improve upon the feeling in the wet conditions, but I think we went a little bit in the wrong direction. We switched back to a set-up closer to that of this morning and my feeling was good, so at the end I was able to improve with each lap and I'm happy with what we've achieved. Today wasn't qualifying, and it is important that we use free practice to explore all the options with the set-up of the bike, which we did. Okay, so we came back to similar settings, but we now have a very clear direction for tomorrow if practice and qualifying is again wet. I also had some chattering at the three first gear corners, which makes the bike a little difficult to control, but I'm confident that we can find a solution for this also tomorrow."

Shinya Nakano: 14th - 2'12.496
"When the conditions were completely wet then I was okay, but as soon as a drying line started to appear I wasn't so confident and I didn't have a good feeling as to how hard I could push. The grip here is impressive in the wet, I had my knee down through every turn and the rear was gripping rather than spinning, but I just seemed to lack confidence in the front, especially under braking, which meant I wasn't able to carry the speed through the faster corners. And the high-speed corners are critical to a good lap time here, so this is something we need to address tomorrow. The weather forecast is predicting a dry race on Sunday, so hopefully we will also have dry conditions for tomorrow's practice and qualifying sessions."

Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager
"We still need to make some refinements to the wet set-up of the new bike. Already we are looking to improve the power delivery in wet conditions, making it more linear so that the bike is easier to control when grip levels are low. On the chassis side we have focused on finding a good balance, to reduce weight transfer when the rider comes off the throttle and onto the brakes, as excessive pitching makes the bike unstable on corner entry. But I'm confident that we can find a solution to both these problems with some more time spent refining our wet weather settings."

FREE PRACTICE - COMBINED TIMES
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team 2'12.060§; 2. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.355; 3. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.614; 4. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.794; 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.854; 6. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +1.018; 7. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team +1.422; 8. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +1.623; 9. Makoto Tamada (JPN) JIR Konica Minolta Honda +1.920; 10. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.032; 14. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +3.103

[Nanna10r]

I hope it Pissus' Down all week

It Will make for a much more interesting result with Randy Winning ahead of Casey, Westy & "Mini P" at Donnington Park last year in the Wet 250cc race.

[Pabs]

Dry conditions

[matchan]

theres going to be a lot of guys going into that looooonng slow first corner tomorrow at the same time, Rossi could find himself cleaned up again !

hopefully Shinya gets through with the leaders !

Matt

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
13 MAY 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUPER SHINYA SECURES SECOND ROW START IN SHANGHAI

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano missed out on a front row start in tomorrow's Grand Prix of China by just one tenth of a second today, after qualifying his Ninja ZX-RR fourth fastest during this afternoon's hour-long timed session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The 28-year-old Japanese ace will start tomorrow's 22-lap race from the second row of the grid, one row in front of his Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, who set the ninth fastest time aboard his Ninja ZX-RR this afternoon.

The heavy rain of yesterday was replaced by dry but overcast conditions for this morning's hour-long free practice session, giving both Kawasaki riders the chance to work on the dry set-up of their Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines, after the washout that was the opening day of practice.

The dry conditions continued into afternoon qualifying, but then, just 25 minutes into the session, the riders were forced back to the pit box by the onset of rain along Shanghai's 1.2 km main straight. Fortunately the rain was both light and short lived and, with just 15 minutes of the session remaining, both Kawasaki riders were back out on track to assess the track conditions and the possibility of switching to qualifying tyres for the final quarter of the session.

Nakano used his first qualifying tyre to assess grip levels around the 5.281 km Shanghai circuit, before using his second qualifier to take pole position with just four minutes of the session left to run. The Kawasaki rider held onto the top spot until the dying moments, when a quick succession of fast laps saw Honda's Dani Pedrosa snatch pole position as Nakano was pushed back to fourth place, and the second row of the grid.

With two runs on a qualifying tyre under his belt, Randy de Puniet looked set to snatch his first MotoGP pole position with his final flying lap, but it was not to be. In a calculated gamble the 25-year-old Frenchman chose the softest of Bridgestone's qualifying tyres for his last run, but started losing time late in the lap when the tyre went off and the rear of his Ninja ZX-RR started to slide under power, forcing de Puniet to settle for ninth place and the third row of the grid.

With so little dry practice time ahead of tomorrow's 22-lap race, both Kawasaki riders are confident that further improvements can be made to their Ninja ZX-RR machines overnight, which will allow them to improve their lap times on race tyres even further during tomorrow's race.

Shinya Nakano: 4th - 1'59.570
"I was quite confident going into qualifying after this morning's free practice session, and I was lying eighth when the rain started halfway through the session. After the difficulties we had yesterday, eighth was not bad, but I really wanted to try and improve on a qualifying tyre, and at that point it didn't look as if I would get the chance. But the rain had almost stopped after 15 minutes, so we decided to try a qualifier anyway, just to get a feel for the conditions and to find out if it was possible to push hard with the soft tyre. It looked okay, so we put in another qualifier, but grip wasn't consistent around the whole circuit, so at some corners I couldn't push as hard as I would if it had been completely dry. Unfortunately, because of the time lost through the rain, I didn't have time for another run on a qualifier. On race tyres we're not so far off the leading riders, and I think we can still make some improvements to the bike overnight, so I'm fairly confident for the race tomorrow. For sure, starting the race from the front row would have been better, but I'm happy enough with fourth place on the grid."

Randy de Puniet: 9th - 2'00.044
"This morning we concentrated on finding both a set-up and a race tyre for the dry conditions, and we continued with this during the first half of this afternoon's qualifying session. Them just as we were starting to think about switching to a qualifying tyre, the rain started. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes, so with 15 minutes to go we tried our first qualifying tyre. I made a small mistake on the first qualifying run, which lost me some time, and then I got held up behind Carlos Checa on my second qualifier, which again cost me valuable time. Unfortunately, we decided to use the softest compound qualifier for my third and final run, and by the time I got to the long right hand turn before the straight, the rear was starting to spin up as the tyre went off and I had to settle for ninth place on the grid. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow. In Istanbul I wanted to finish my first MotoGP race, so I was little bit cautious, but for tomorrow my plan is to go as hard as I can from the start, to try and stay in touch with the leading group of riders for as long as possible, and, hopefully, finish the race with a good result. That's the plan anyway."

QUALIFYING PRACTICE - FINAL TIMES
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'59.009; 2. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.364; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.374; 4. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.561; 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.565; 6. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.630; 7. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +0.881; 8. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +1.005; 9. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.035; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +1.069

[MadKaw]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE
14 MAY 2006 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAKANO AND DE PUNIET SHOW DETERMINATION IN SHANGHAI

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet were left frustrated after today's Grand Prix of China in Shanghai, as traction problems robbed both riders of the opportunity to do battle with their factory rivals at the front of the race.

Nakano brought his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR home in tenth place, with de Puniet two places further back in twelfth, as Honda's Dani Pedrosa converted a pole position start into his first premier class win in today's 22-lap race.

An aggressive start by Nakano saw him dive under two riders in as many corners to claim fourth place, but the 28-year-old Japanese rider was pushed back to seventh at the end of the opening lap, as three riders drafted past him on the front straight.

The Kawasaki rider hung onto the rear of the leading group for a further two laps, but the aggressive power delivery of his Ninja ZX-RR was causing his rear tyre to spin up out of the turns, losing him vital time out of every corner and eventually leading to him losing touch with the battle ahead of him.

Unable to close the gap, and now also struggling with deteriorating front grip on his Ninja ZX-RR, Nakano took the sensible option and rode for the points in the final third of the race. The Japanese ace held on to secure a top ten finish, but was left frustrated that he had not been allowed him to fulfil the potential shown in the opening lap because of problems beyond his control.

Nakano's Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, was also quick away from the line, but the MotoGP rookie lost ground on the run up to the first turn, as he struggled to select second gear on his Ninja ZX-RR.

The 25-year-old Frenchman was quick to get his head down in an attempt to make up the lost ground, but was frustrated when his rear tyre started to lose grip just six laps into the race.

De Puniet continued to push as hard as possible but, with the rear tyre spinning up out of every turn, was unable to close the gap to the group of riders ahead and, like his teammate, was eventually forced to ride purely for the points.

The Kawasaki Racing Team will leave Shanghai on Sunday evening, and travel direct to Le Mans for the French Grand Prix, which takes place in just seven days time.

Shinya Nakano: 10th
"I got a good start and the bike felt real good; I could push hard and I was enjoying fighting for position. But then a group of riders went past me and, while I managed to stay with them for a few laps, I started to lose ground when the rear tyre started spinning up out of the turns. We had similar problems in Istanbul, although this wasn't as bad, but it was enough to lose me time and to lose contact with the group ahead of me. Towards the end I started to lose grip at the front as well, and actually lost the front completely at one point. It was then that I decided I had a big enough gap over Elias and that riding for the points might be the best plan. It's frustrating, for sure, but I think it is a problem that we can overcome. I just hope we can find a solution before the French Grand Prix, as it's only one week away."

Randy de Puniet: 12th
"Heading into the first turn I couldn't get the bike to select second gear, and I had to back off the throttle before it would go in. When I looked up, the group in front of me had gone. I tried as hard as could to make up the lost ground, but then I started to lose grip at the rear, and it got progressively worse over the next ten laps. I'm disappointed not to have finished higher than I did in Istanbul, but I was riding right on the maximum. If I had pushed any harder then I would have crashed. Despite the disappointment, it was another race finish, and more experience for me. Now I need to look forward to next week, and my home race at Le Mans, where I hope I can secure a good result, both for me and the team."

Harald Eckl: Team Principal
"Clearly we still have some work to do if we are to close the gap to the front of the field. This weekend we have been down on top speed by 10 km/h on average, at a circuit that boasts the longest straight on the MotoGP calendar. To overcome this deficit our riders have been forced to push hard everywhere else on the circuit, and we saw today what effect this has on tyre endurance. Both riders suffered tyre problems today, but Shinya's front-end problems were particularly severe. We need to find more top speed from the engine, but we also need to identify the cause of the problem Shinya has experienced in the past two races. Whether we have time to find a solution before the next race at Le Mans is difficult to predict, but I hope it will be possible."

MOTOGP RACE RESULT - FINAL TIMES
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 44'07.734; 2. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +1.505; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +14.634; 4. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +19.265; 5. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +23.061; 6. Makoto Tamada (JPN) JIR Konica Minolta Honda +23.879; 7. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +24.101; 8. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +24.467; 9. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team +28.358; 10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +33.815; 11. Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Honda +35.316; 12. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +52.004